You say that you take someone’s portrait, but often you get that portrait. If you look at portraits I have taken of celebrities that I have shot more than once, it’s obvious that they have a photo face that they present when the camera comes out. That is quite simply the portrait I get.

If you have more time, an hour or more, you can work together with the environment and the light to create pictures that tell more about the person. But if you don’t have that time, maybe only 30 seconds? That is what it’s like most of the time. No matter what, it would be cheeky to demand more of someone who never asked me to take their picture. I’m taking their time, so I work quickly. That’s when I like to get close and let the person fill the frame.

These pictures were taken at the wedding I shot a couple of weeks ago. I had a good light to work with and all those windows that created nice reflexes in the eyes. Going close like this and with a short depth of field, half the job is done, but you still have to look at the background and where the light is coming from, so I had to move people around a little. Pointing with my foot; stand there!

I have noticed that when I take command like that, people relax a little. The opposite is when I look skeptically at the camera and wonder out loud why it’s not doing what I want it to do. You have to radiate security in what you do, or you quickly loose faith from the person you’re trying to shoot. The last picture here is of singer Jens Lekman who performed at the wedding.

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